Cultural affinities between the Aryans and the Mayans are well known. They are found to be truly striking in art, architecture, beliefs, traditions, cuisine and lifestyles. It has been debated for long whether cultural influences journeyed from the Indian subcontinent to Mexico. Eva Alexandra Uchmany, editor of ‘India-Mexico Similarities and Encounters throughout the History’, advocated the view that exchanges between Mexico and India began only in the colonial period and intensified in the 20th century. Leading Mexican universities, Colegio de Mexico and the National Autonomous University of Mexico have important centres of Indian studies.
India was the Guest of Honour country at the 46th Cervantino International Festival held in October 2018, the biggest cultural festival in the entire Hispanic world. India was also the first Asian nation to be the Guest of Honour country at Guadalajara International Book Fair held in November-December of 2019. Within the framework of the 50th Cervantino International Festival, a major three-day festival to celebrate India in Guanajuato was organised from January 28-30 this year.
In April 2022, CENART (Centro Nacional de las Artes) hosted a Festival of India along with three art exhibitions from India. A bust of Mahatma Gandhi, donated by ICCR to the Municipality of Guanajuato, a World Heritage City, was installed on April 26, 2019. To mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, year-long celebrations were held in Mexico 2019.
The Gurudev Tagore Indian Cultural Centre, under the aegis of the ICCR, has been functioning in Mexico since October 2010. Regular classes for yoga, Indian classical and Bollywood dances, sitar, tabla, Hindi and Sanskrit languages and Indian cooking are held at the centre.
